IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Queen Hoo Lane, WELWYN, AL6 0LW

Records of the Manor of Hoo pre-date the Domesday Book. The present hall was built around 1550, or around 1589 depending on which source one uses, as a farm house, although Queen Elizabeth I is said to have used it as a hunting lodge. Given the proximity of the site to Hatfield House where she spent her childhood that is not unlikely. Furthermore the Hoo family were related to Anne Boleyn, the mother of the Queen, so perhaps Royal patronage of the Hoo family home is the origin of the name Queen Hoo. The Hall is a private residence not open to the public and this view was taken from the footpath through the field to the south. There is a somewhat twee painting of the hall from Edwardian times here http://www.hertfordshire-genealogy.co.uk/images/post-cards/queen-hoo-hall.jpg

Built 1570-85 for J. Smyth. It is described in G.W. Hoskins 1955 classic "The Making of the English Landscape". It is now a private dwelling and not open to the public. Inside are C16 wall paintings of Old Testament scenes. The house was the setting for Joseph Strutt's (1749-02) "Queen Hoo Hall" completed by Walter Scott in 1808. See http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-356267-queen-hoo-hall-tewin-hertfordshire#.VsY1TfmLTIU for entry in British Listed Buildings

The Hertfordshire Chain Walk is a long distance footpath that crosses the county from south to north, from the outskirts of London to Cambridgeshire. It is actually a series of consecutive circular walks hence the chain name. This section is looking north from near Queen Hoo Hall down an unnamed lane.

Nancybury Gorse is a wood off Queen Hoo Lane.

Easter Sunday. Spring is here but the wood is not quite ready to break into leaf.

Right up in its north-east corner the Chain Walk clips across this square enabling a view of Seven Acre Wood. An uncropped patch of maize, possibly providing cover for game birds, is in front.